Ape House

　　電視裡，實境秀正 赤裸登場，
　　電視外，人性的沉淪與高貴輪番上演！
　　拿遙控器的你只是觀眾，還是共犯？

　　《大象的眼淚》暢銷名家莎拉．格魯恩最新深情力作！

　　．榮登紐約時報、出版家週刊、洛杉磯時報等全美各大暢銷排行榜TOP 10！
　　．入選《歐普拉雜誌》當月十大選書！

　　牠們不會說話，卻毫無保留地付出自己的愛；
　　牠們不懂隱藏，而是用人們失落已久的純真與善良
　　拯救了每一顆孤獨的心，融化了每一個冰冷的偽裝……

　　請想像這樣的一個畫面──

　　週末夜晚，你無事在家，整個人躺在沙發上，打開電視，欣賞一個最受歡迎的實境秀。主角是五隻和人類共享 98.7%相同DNA、聰明絕頂的巴諾布猿，牠們性情溫和，喜歡和人類做朋友，卻被人關在一間小屋中，所有的一舉一動，都毫無隱藏地 曝露在鏡頭下……

　　牠們也是動物學家伊莎貝爾在這世上唯一的家人，但被不肖電視台搶奪，成為斂財工具，而在營救牠們的道路上，她 只有記者約翰一個盟友。實境秀一播出，立刻造成轟動，各式各樣的動物保護團體甚至女權主義者都跑出來抗議，藉機宣揚自己的理念，而八 卦週刊更是唯恐天下不亂地塑造巴諾布猿的淫亂形象，沒有人願意聽伊莎貝爾和約翰說話，也沒有人真正在乎那些巴諾布猿的感受。

　　當好奇的觀眾興奮沉迷於巴諾布猿「瘋狂又原始」的行為，伊莎貝爾要如何救出她最親愛的「家人」？當極少數的正 義被迫必須對抗整個社會，你不禁開始感到疑惑，所謂的「優秀物種」，究竟是在電視裡頭，還是電視外面？……

　　中譯本《巴諾布的呼喚》由「皇冠」出版。

　　Isabel Duncan, a scientist at the Great Ape Language Lab, doesn’t understand people, but apes she gets—especially the bonobos Sam, Bonzi, Lola, Mbongo, Jelani, and Makena, who are capable of reason and communication through American Sign Language. Isabel feels more comfortable in their world than she’s ever felt among humans—until she meets John Thigpen, a very married reporter writing a human interest feature. But when an explosion rocks the lab, John’s piece turns into the story of a lifetime—and Isabel must connect with her own kind to save her family of apes from a new form of human exploitation.

　　Sam, Bonzi, Lola, Mbongo, Jelani, and Makena are no ordinary apes. These bonobos, like others of their species, are capable of reason and carrying on deep relationships—but unlike most bonobos, they also know American Sign Language.

　　Isabel Duncan, a scientist at the Great Ape Language Lab, doesn’t understand people, but animals she gets—especially the bonobos. Isabel feels more comfortable in their world than she’s ever felt among humans . . . until she meets John Thigpen, a very married reporter who braves the ever-present animal rights protesters outside the lab to see what’s really going on inside.

　　When an explosion rocks the lab, severely injuring Isabel and “liberating” the apes, John’s human interest piece turns into the story of a lifetime, one he’ll risk his career and his marriage to follow. Then a reality TV show featuring the missing apes debuts under mysterious circumstances, and it immediately becomes the biggest—and unlikeliest—phenomenon in the history of modern media. Millions of fans are glued to their screens watching the apes order greasy take-out, have generous amounts of sex, and sign for Isabel to come get them. Now, to save her family of apes from this parody of human life, Isabel must connect with her own kind, including John, a green-haired vegan, and a retired porn star with her own agenda.

　　Ape House delivers great entertainment, but it also opens the animal world to us in ways few novels have done, securing Sara Gruen’s place as a master storyteller who allows us to see ourselves as we never have before.

作者簡介

莎拉．格魯恩 Sara Gruen

　　加拿大出生，於一九九九年因教職移居美國，卻在兩年後遭到解雇。但是，這次看似負面的人生打擊，不但沒有讓莎 拉灰心喪志，反而意外催生了一位超級作家！

　　莎拉擁有一顆熱愛動物的心，更將這樣的熱情用文字生動地表達出來。她的處女作《騎馬課》，深刻探討了人與動物 之間的親密互動，以及由此所衍生出來的療癒力量。第二本作品《凌空換腳》也是以「馬」為故事主角，同樣受到讀者好評。

　　然而，真正讓莎拉受到全球讀者矚目的成名作，則莫過於《大象的眼淚》。這本以美國經濟大蕭條時代為背景、馬戲 團大象為主角的故事，不但獲獎連連，更史無前例地受到「歐普拉讀書俱樂部」二度推薦，締造了三百萬本的驚人銷售數字！該書並被改編拍 成電影，由奧斯卡影后瑞絲．薇絲朋和「暮光之城」當紅偶像羅伯．派汀森領銜主演。

　　莎拉如日中天的聲勢，讓她的最新作品《巴諾布的呼喚》立刻成為全球出版社競逐的熱門大書，僅憑大綱即售出十八 國版權，出版後也入選了《歐普拉雜誌》當月十大選書和《好管家》雜誌當月選書！

　　《巴諾布的呼喚》的主角是與人類共享98.7% DNA的巴諾布猿，熱愛動物的莎拉希望藉由故事和讀者分享：動物並非人類的寵物或可宰制的對象，而是與我們一起生活在地球上的朋友。而這種尊重與關懷，也 讓她的作品打動了無數讀者，讓這個世界充滿了更多的愛與溫暖！

　　作者英文官網：www.saragruen.com

　　Sara Gruen is the author of the #1 bestselling novel Water for Elephants, as well as the bestseller Riding Lessons and Flying Changes. She shares her North Carolina home with her own version of a blended family: a husband, three children, four cats, two dogs, two horses, and a goat. In order to write her latest novel, Ape House, Gruen studied linguistics and a system of hexagrams so that she could communicate directly with the bonobos living at the Great Ape Trust in Des Moines, Iowa. She now considers them to be part of her extended family, and, according to the bonobos, the feeling is mutual.